Xi Jinping pledged Friday to Emmanuel Macron to “support any effort to restore peace in Ukraine” attacked by Russia, a conflict that the Chinese president still refuses to condemn.
At the end of a three-day state visit to China, the French president and Xi Jinping made a minimal joint statement on the war in Ukraine. The text does not mention Russia and does not call for the departure of troops from Moscow from Ukraine.
The joint statement does not condemn Vladimir Putin’s military intervention either.
On the other hand, the two countries “oppose armed attacks against nuclear power plants and other peaceful nuclear installations” and support the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) “to ensure the security of the Zaporizhzhia power plant”.
“The objective was not to get China to switch from one camp to the other, the objective was for China to contribute usefully to clearly defined objectives”, defended the Elysée.
According to Paris, Xi Jinping said he was ready to work with France “to create the conditions for negotiations” between Moscow and kyiv. “For us, the objective is fulfilled”, we are assured on the French side, even if we “will have to see” how these commitments will materialize.
The “parameters” of this initiative still remain to be “defined”, we concede on the French side.
“Colonize your neighbor”
The day before, Messrs. Macron and Xi had both called for peace talks as soon as possible and rejected any recourse to nuclear weapons.
But if, as we are assured on the French side, Xi Jinping has said he is ready to call his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, the Chinese president has made it clear that he will do so when he himself chooses.
This commitment, which does not appear in any Chinese report, was however deemed “positive” by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, Thursday in Beijing.
Friday in Canton, Emmanuel Macron denounced to Chinese students this war started by Russia.
The French president’s trip to this southern Chinese city concludes a three-day state visit which first took him to Beijing and aimed to renew face-to-face ties after three years of relations in distance due to COVID-19.
Mr Macron visited Sun Yat-sen University where the crowd in attendance gave him a warm welcome, many waving their cellphones in hopes of a selfie with him.
The Head of State, who made the conflict in Ukraine the main subject of his visit to China, mentioned it from the first minutes in front of a thousand students: “This war is a clear violation of our international law,” he said.
“It’s a country that decides to colonize its neighbor, not to respect the rules, to redeploy arms, to invade it,” he insisted, about Russia.
Tea and country decor
Sun Yat-sen University, one of the most prestigious in China, has partnerships with 24 French establishments including the École Normale Supérieure, the Lyon School of Management and the University of Angers.
It is also associated with a consortium of engineering schools within the framework of the Franco-Chinese Institute for Nuclear Energy.
After this meeting with the students, Emmanuel Macron joined Xi Jinping on the island of Shamian, in the heart of Canton.
The two men walked together through the garden to the governor’s residence of Guangdong province, where Mr. Xi’s father, Xi Zhongxun, lived when he held the post from 1978 to 1981.
In a rural setting facing a lake, they took part in a tea ceremony, during which the Chinese president recalled some childhood memories: “I came here very often, in 1978, I was a student […] and I came here to visit my father”.
After the ceremony, the two leaders took part in a private dinner.
According to the Élysée, Xi Jinping has accepted an invitation from Emmanuel Macron to visit France, on a date which has not been specified.